THE GETTY MUSEUM: BEST VIEW IN ALL OF L.A.

Today we took an adventure up to the J. Paul Getty Museum up in Brentwood area of Los Angeles.  It was an amazing day and despite the lingering bit of smog, the views were lovely.  It was another sunny day and temps were hovering in the mid 70s in the sun and just right in the shade.  The cool part about the Getty is that you have to park in a 6 story underground parking garage that has multiple fire alarms on each floor.  So being the true adventurer that I am, I decided to pull on while Papa was changing Lael's diaper in the back of the car.  Well to say the least, Mamma and Papa were not happy; either were the security guards.  Ah...what a way to start the day!

Here are a few shots of us running around up top.  After the museum, we took Anne to Chipotle for her first time and then walked around the shops at the Brentwood Country Market.

Mamma and Lael above the gardens.

Hanging in the grasses.

Running on the lawns.

I am a big girl now in my big girl jeans.

Water, never miss a chance to play in water.

I swear I will listen....please...I promise.....the meltdown begins.

Happy Festivas

Festivus, a well-celebrated parody, has become a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 which serves as an alternative to participating in the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas holiday season.........well,  let us just say we did not follow in the spirit of Festivus.  Instead, we were a gluttony of commercialism and materialism. Packed with baked delights, rich treats, and laziness.  Our Christmas was framed with 80 degree weather and blue skies....in fact, we almost had to turn on the air conditioning.  Despite the hurdles of summer weather and good food, all persevered and had a good time.  

Pumpkin pie is good.

Holy Guacamole...look at all these gifts Santa brought!

I am ready for school now that I have my own backpack.

#Iheartbagels!

Spiderman taking the morning off and hanging with Nana and Grandpa Tom.

Winter Day at the Beach.

This winter break we have a visitor from Germany via Portland, Oregon:  Anne-Kathrin.  We figured that Anne might enjoy a little California Christmas weather...say around 84 degrees and sunny down at Laguna Beach.  Say what?  Yep...a lovely day in the low 80s in mid-December.

The following weekend we checked out the Christmas shopping at the Grove and then Rodeo Drive.

Then what a great way to end the day.....In and Out Burger.  This was Leal's and Anne first time having In and Out Burgers.

Turkey Day Racing

Nothing says U.S. Thanksgiving like a Cyclocross race.  This race had some big names in attendance from Team Kona....Barry Wicks and Matt Slaven.  Of course there was me too!  Then after the race in true cyclocross fashion...we kicked it over to the Golden Road Brewery for some tasty food and cold brews.

Big Move

A few weeks ago, we had to move to a new house.  We are going to miss our old house and so we enjoyed a nice sunny day in the backyard before we left.

Here I am doing some swim classes with Mama.  I loved the water, but I did not like floating on my back!

Eamonn's Third Birthday Party

Given the close proximity of my birthday to Halloween and the fact that I got my Halloween costume in late September, we decided to make make my birthday party a little costume party. Mama and I were pirates and Laely Bug was a lady bug of course.  Papa did not dress up, he wore a face moustache but it did not really stick very well because of his real facial hair.  We had the McGarry girls over, Lucia, cousins Charlie and Alexandra.  I was the only boy in the entire bunch, but we still had fun and it was probably a lot less dangerous given that I was the only boy.  We even did a pinata like at my second birthday party.

Laely Bug's First Birthday

Today was my big day, I turned one!  I had some friends and family over, ate some cake and just kicked it in the back yard.  Overall it was a pretty rough week with two new teeth coming in on the upper grill, but I did enjoy some cake.

First Day of School

So today I started my first day of school, well kind of...just 4 hours, twice a week.  I am in Miss Jaimie's class and there are lots of cars available.  The first day of class I painted a butterfly for mama, which is now hanging proudly on the fridge door.  I am not scared to go to school either, I pretty much run for my class as soon as we get inside the gate and hardly notice that mama has left.

Aboard the USS Midway and Family Camping Trip

Once we got back from our vacation up in Canada, we had some new adventures back in Southern California.  Opa joined us for a visit and one of the days we went down to San Diego and went on the USS Midway that is parked in the harbor.  That was cool!

The next weekend we went camping up in Ojai in the Los Padres National Forest.  We bought a big hugemongous (aka humongous) tent in the whole wide world, I brought my bike, and we ate hot dogs every night for dinner.

How Do You Get To Montreal?

You are right, this seems like the most obvious way to get to Montreal or at least if you are coming from Southern California.  But Eamonn decided to provide me (Papa) with a different story tonight before bed.  First we were reading a book about Cars, Trucks, and Things That Go; on one of the pages there is a VW Bug with a sailboat on its roof.  That is what set Eamonn off!  The following is a transcript of his words telling me how to get to Montreal:

Papa, that sail boat is like Viktor's boat. Do you mean Opa's boat at the cottage?  No, Viktor's boat in Montreal.  Papa, where is Montreal?  Its North of here and a very long plane ride.  No, no, no, you have to take a boat to get to Montreal.  Opa starts the motor and I am the pilot and I start the engine.  Viktor has the key and he turns it on.  Henrik sits in the seat next to me and everybody sits in seats in the back.  We can borrow Opa's race boat to go to Montreal.

Papa, where is Montreal? Its North of here and we took a plane to get there.  No, no, no, you have to go to Mookie's cottage and get a boat and drive it there to Viktor and Henrik's house in Montreal.  That's what we did this time to get there.  Papa, where is Montreal?  I do not know anymore Eamonn, good night!

Vacation #2 for Eamonn and Lael that is (Toronto/Montreal)

After spending a week or so at the cottage, Lael and I did a tour of Eastern Canada with Mama.  We started out in Toronto and then moved East to Montreal.  I had loads of fun at Rachel and Matthews house, Matthew had a lot of cool toys.

Going for ice cream, but it was closed.

Miss sqirmy worm.

Who is driving this thing anyway.

At last, we found some ice cream.

Big play-date at the park in Ile Perot.

Kicking it at Quinn's Farm.

Leave the toys for the boys, we want the box.

Climbing tires at Quinn's Farm. We love it.